where my ADD adds up...: July 2008

I just cleaned out all of my old newspapers, magazines and school papers/articles that I for some reason thought some time ago would be a good idea to keep around, as if I’d actually pick them up again and read over, in case I forgot their point or something. Ha. I should know myself better than that by now…

But there was one that I originally put in that stack because I thought, when I first read it, “This is such crap. I need to write to this chick and tell her what she should really mean to write.” And then I put it in the stack just to forget about it until just a few minutes ago when I saw it again. Except now I’m thinking it’s a little late to be writing to her considering the article was published back in March when most of us students were going a little numb with school work and studying.

So here I am, responding to you guys. Ah well.

Basically, this girl made an innocent attempt to remind all the students at LBSU to just take a step back from all the chaos that goes on in our lives, breathe for a minute, and relax before we pass out in exhaustion. She suggested that we take a little inventory of all our commitments and social networks that we’ve involved ourselves in and eliminate all of the unnecessary activities, acquaintances and tasks that we’ve got going on. She said we should replace them with more sleep, time for ourselves and/or even meditation. You can see where else she took her opinion throughout the article.

Well I call B.S. this time.

True, one opinion of mine is that just about all of us could take better care of our bodies and minds more than we do now. And yes, I’ve recently read lots of blogs and articles about finding balance in your life, feeling recharged and motivated each morning you get out of bed and have even contacted a life coach about if I should and how I could keep things simple yet highly successful. BUT at the same time, I think this girl is missing a HUGE point.

A ton of people I go to school with, and I’d say the majority of college students around the country, don’t get enough sleep. I’m sure the girl who wrote the article is smart, but she doesn’t have to be a genius to have recognized that. None of us need to be. We feel completely exhausted more often than we feel awake enough to function. A lot of us are hauling ass to work or class, coming from the other place, trying to be on time. But should we get more rest? Or take a minute to breathe, as she suggests we should? Or got to a hot yoga class or something?

The answer isn’t “probably.” It’s not even “Maybe….” All of our answers this time and in our cases is “NO.” It’s a “Hell No!” at that.

Here’s why and it’s so ridiculously simple: WE SIGNED UP FOR IT ALL. We’re the ones who put ourselves in this chaos and in this sleepless and exhausting lifestyle. If any of us agree with that girl, all it means is that we’ve become the average person, if we haven’t been living an average life already. I say that because the proof lies in every below and above average person there is, in terms of success. The below average person simply gave in to the hardships of whatever it is he or she signed up for or got themselves into by relaxing or taking a timeout to breathe or whatever. And on the other hand, the above average person took a hold of the opportunity to master and conquer whatever they signed up for, which very possibly could have been the exact same thing the below average person signed up for. Ahem, school??? Maybe??? A certain class they were both enrolled in??

It all seems so obvious to me and it should to the rest of us college students, at least (I think my point could apply to an infinite amount of other groups of people as well, but I should probably just stick with what I know and what I’m involved in at this point in my life). If the point isn’t clear enough yet, however, I’ll keep going. And it will be easy for me to.

Look around at the smartest students you know that we go to school with. Do they look completely refreshed, energized, even happy, out-going, totally eager, picture-perfect, etc. 24/7? Of course not!!! That’s because they’re working their ass off to be the smartest and to become smarter, all the time. So they can be successful and live at an above average level of success, as they almost always do. All they’re doing is following the formula that our country’s history has proven to work, time and again...

And don’t try to give me that “but what about the slackers who get rich off of a stupid invention, or the guys who never go to class and get all A’s” crap. Because that’s exactly what it is- crap. Just about all of us can (or should be able to anyway) see right through that type of person. They aren’t a new group of people. In fact, a very long time ago, someone came up with a word to describe the person who achieves something without working for it: Lucky. Being lucky is having something given to you that you don’t deserve, and that’s all those people are. They would rather be lucky than disciplined, determined and therefore honestly successful. I obviously have a lot more to say on that topic, but I’ll save for another day.

…But back to that formula. There is nothing wrong with working your ass off if you want to be successful. Like I said before and as history shows infinitely, it’s mandatory to! And with that often comes meeting new people (which supposedly brings unnecessary acquaintances at times), pouring all your energy into understanding whatever it is you want to conquer, loss of sleep and therefore tiredness and even exhaustion and having to rush back and forth to places and so on.

And in my opinion, and I’m sure those above average people would agree, all of those things are good for you. Because they are all SIGNS of HARD WORK AND FUTURE SUCCESS.

If that’s not what you truly want though, and that’s what you’re not willing to suffer a little bit for, then by all means…. Just take a step back from all the chaos that goes on in your life, breathe for a minute, and relax before you pass out in exhaustion. Take a little inventory of all your commitments and social networks that you’re involved in and eliminate all of the unnecessary activities, acquaintances and tasks that you’ve got going on. Replace them with more sleep, time for yourself and/or even meditation.

But do yourself a favor when you’re done- don’t SIGN UP FOR ALL OF THAT if you don’t really want to push yourself through it, grow mentally and physically from it all, and come out of it a SUCCESS.

The last thing I want to say is this, in case I didn’t mention it clearly enough before: There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to have an extremely simplified life with very little going on. I’ve actually become a big believer of having balance and plenty of relaxation time in life, myself. So the point of my post here isn’t to put those things down, as it might have seem like I have throughout what I just wrote at times. My hope is to pass along something I’ve learned to people like the girl who wrote that article: Although it might not be physically healthy to wear yourself out as you’re trying to accomplish a really challenging goal, no matter who you are and what goal you want to accomplish, it is ALWAYS NECESSARY to challenge yourself and feel some kind of frustration, and is almost always WORTH IT to, in the end.